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The rich California coastline offers a bounty of marine life and a range of dive locations to suit every diver. We’ve got kelp beds, rocky reefs and wrecks. We’ve got offshore islands reachable only by boat, and we’ve got some spectacular shore diving, too. We can hunt and collect our dinner, or capture stunning images with a camera. In other words, we’ve got options. When it comes to equipping ourselves with the proper exposure protection needed for safely and comfortably exploring our decidedly temperate waters, […]

Newborns of many species — horses, kittens and elephants for example — look like miniature versions of their parents, although they are universally a lot cuter. It is, of course, a great advantage to be cute as cuteness might help a mother bond to its young and lessen the odds of animal parents abandoning their young should they misbehave. Other animals start out looking nothing like their parents and may go through one or more developmental phases before assuming the final “you look just like […]

The California diving community lost one of its greats recently, when on June 2, 2016, underwater cinematographer Bob Cranston died. He is remembered both for his cinematic achievements and as a pioneering shark diver. Bob Cranston, Underwater Filmmaker By Howard Hall It was the winter of 1993 and the weather was clear and calm at Catalina Island. But there was some current running through our dive site. “Do you think we can do this?” I asked Bob. Bob laughed and said, “Yeah, I think it’s […]

A dentist is a doctor the same as psychiatrists and proctologists are doctors. But these doctors have vastly different areas of expertise. There are times when our healthcare needs can be met with a visit to our “family doctor,” a general practitioner who specializes in providing comprehensive health care. And then there are times when we might need to consult with a specialist. For us divers, this might include a consultation with or examination by a diving physician — one who is trained in undersea […]

By Cathryn Castle Human beings are tribal by nature. We tend to seek the company of people with whom we share common bonds. Whether we’re connected through a common language or philosophy or passion, we experience a sense of comfort and ease when we’re with “our tribe.” For some folks, it’s mountain climbing or stamp collecting, but for us, it’s getting out on — and under — the water as scuba divers. When we see that little red and white dive flag bumper sticker on […]

If you had a chance to sit in on casual conversation with a group of dive industry executives, you might hear someone comment about how the diving business is run by hobbyists. By that, they mean people who fell in love with diving and found a way to make a living at it. The conversation usually winds up with the group wondering how much farther along diving would be if it was run instead by a solid collection of business school grads. They stop short […]

By Allison Vitsky Sallmon In 2003, I was many things — 33 years old, a postdoctoral fellow at a Boston-area university, a veterinary researcher, a scuba diver, and a workout fanatic. What I wasn’t, was someone with a lot of free time. So on the October day that I placed my hand on my left breast and found a distinct mass, I was more annoyed than frightened. Still, instinct told me to get it checked, so I made an appointment at the student health […]

Lost Below contains 17 fast-paced chapters regarding the history and exploration of some of the most fascinating shipwrecks, sunken aircraft and submerged ruins in the southwest. To help tell the stories the informative book is illustrated with over 200 archival, surface and underwater photographs. Author David Finnern has searched for shipwrecks and submerged ruins for over 35 years. As an award-winning writer, he has been published about his underwater endeavors in numerous diving, adventure and treasure hunting magazines. He is also the author of the […]

Sea of Light is an exquisite coffee table book featuring the color underwater photographs of Richard H. Salas and highlighting the natural beauty of the California Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary, spanning the waters from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. The book has been meticulously researched over the past five years, and includes a foreward by Earnest Brooks II, professor Emeritus of Brooks Institute of Photography, and a conservation essay by Peter Howorth, founder of the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center. Species identification has been provided […]